Centauri's Promise

Centauri's Promise: Volume 1 A ghost ship. A galactic conspiracy. An ancient legacy awakening in the blood. Captain Randall Hayes and the crew of the mercenary stealth cruiser The Owl make their living hunting bounties in the dangerous dust rings of Proxima Centauri. But their latest target is no ordinary pirate—he is a desperate fugitive holding classified data that could topple the corrupt Admiral Elias Kruger. And Kruger is willing to destroy anyone who gets in his way to keep those secrets buried. When The Owl crosses paths with The Dirk—a ruthless, AI-driven assassin ship born from the fragments of an ancient, world-consuming entity known as The Machine—a simple bounty hunt becomes a desperate fight for survival. Meanwhile, on the planet Hamada, a young musician named Helena is plagued by visions of a cosmic past and a song she cannot explain. As Kruger's forces close in, Randy and Helena's paths collide, revealing a terrifying and beautiful truth: humanity is not merely human. Helena and The Owl's enigmatic pilot, Jesse, are the living heirs of the Vol'erathi, a lost empire that once ruled the Sirius sector. Now, hunted by an immortal machine and a corrupt military, this found family of mercenaries, synthetics, and fugitives must unlock the secrets of a millennia-old ruin. If they fail, the galaxy falls to the absolute silence of The Machine. If they succeed, they will awaken the stars.